Passover (and more Easter)

Easter addendum: I forgot to add the Consulate's Easter party to my previous post.  Liam and Sam enjoyed hunting for eggs, and Liam even got his face painted.  He asked to be a "fearless Auburn Tiger."  Mommy is so proud.

Now onto Passover.  I am getting a real education.  I don't consider myself willfully ignorant.  In fact, before moving here, I would even have described myself as pretty knowledgeable about religious stuff--Judaism included.  However, there are two things I did not know.  1) Passover is celebrated for an entire week.  I thought it was just one night because the actual passing over happened in one night.  Passover (or Pesach in Hebrew) actually celebrates the emancipation of the Israelites from Egypt, which includes the passing over.  Read more here.

There's a lot to do for those who observe a traditional Pesach.  They must clean their home, cars, and any other personal spaces.  And I mean REALLY clean.  They must not only rid the home of any leavened product (bread, cereal, pasta, crackers, etc.), there must also not be one crumb of leavened ANYTHING in these spaces.  People use TOOTHBRUSHES or FEATHERS to scrub in order to make sure there isn't any chametz left behind.  But, for those too busy to do this kind of cleaning, there are loopholes. In fact, the state of Israel sells all of its chametz (in prisons, schools, etc.) to an Islamic man every year in order to get out of the cleaning/burning process.

The day that Passover begins (at sunset, remember?), people burn leftover chametz before noon.  We even saw a couple of bread fires on our way to the zoo on my birthday, even though we don't live in an ultra religious neighborhood.  

And once Passover starts, anything not labeled Kosher for Passover cannot be sold.  And here is the second thing I did not know...that there is a difference between Kosher and Kosher for Passover.   During Passover, not only do the normal Kosher laws apply, but there is the added piece of no leavening allowed.   From the website linked above (click the word Pesach):

Chametz means leavened grain—any food or drink that contains even a trace of wheat, barley, rye, oats, spelt or their derivatives, and which wasn’t guarded from leavening or fermentation. This includes bread, cake, cookies, cereal, pasta and most alcoholic beverages. Moreover, almost any processed food or drink can be assumed to be chametz unless certified otherwise.

So if you are no Jewish and you have kids whose favorite foods include various breads and crackers, you have to plan ahead or shop in East Jerusalem.  Otherwise you get this site while grocery shopping.   Anything covered up is considered chametz and cannot be sold.  Luckily for us, we have just a few days left before life returns to normal!